The New York Knicks shot an abysmal 31.9 percent from the floor in an ugly 87-70 loss to the Miami Heat in Game 3 of their first-round 2012 NBA Playoffs series on Thursday night. Though the Knicks held tough defensively in the first half to take a four-point lead into intermission, LeBron James and Co. inevitably took the game over late.
James scored 17 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter while playing with four fouls. He started the night incredibly slow, going just 2-for-7 from the floor in the first half. He picked up his game to help the Heat outscore the Knicks 29-14 in the final quarter of the game. Dwyane Wade chipped in 20 points and Mario Chalmers added 19, 15 of which came on 5-for-8 shooting from long range.
Carmelo Anthony paced the Knicks with 22 points but went just 7-for-23 from the floor to get there. He and J.R. Smith combined accounted for nearly 60 percent of the Knicks' shots on the night, and together went 29.2 percent from the field. Landry Fields went 0-for-5 in the second half, and Tyson Chandler went 2-for-6 for the game while hauling in 15 rebounds.
Game 4 will be played in Madison Square Garden on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET. While New York faces extreme odds if they hope to pull out a series win, they can at least save some pride by putting together a full 48-minute performance based off of their bits of strong play over the last two games.
For more on the Knicks playoff basketball, check back to this SB Nation New York StoryStream. Meanwhile, the SB Nation blog Posting and Toasting is all about Knicks basketball. NBA Playoff schedule and updates can be found here at SBNation.com.